A couple in Hulhumalé, no vehicle, two young children and a school run that involved two ferries in a month of rain. They arrived on a Saturday evening having seen a machine on our floor at 61,000 rufiyaa and wanted to know whether they could pay for it over two years.
The first thing we did was talk them out of that machine. It was a 160cc with a tall seat, and the shorter of the two of them could not put both feet down at a junction, which on a bike carrying a child is not a preference but a safety matter. We put them on a 125cc automatic at 41,500 with a low seat and underseat space that takes a helmet and a school bag.
Then the figures, which went out the same afternoon in writing. Price 41,500. Deposit they had, 12,000. Balance 29,500. Over eighteen months the plain division is about 1,639 a month and over twenty four it is about 1,229, and we said in the message, as we always do, that a financier will add a charge on top of those and that we do not set it and cannot quote it. We also listed the documents they were likely to be asked for, so that their first visit was not wasted.
They chose twenty four months, took the breakdown to a financier, and came back with an agreement four days later. We held the bike for three working days without a payment, which is what we do, and no deposit was ever paid to us before the finance was settled, so there was nothing to unwind if the answer had been no.
Four minutes at the counter on the fresh water rinse, a chain spray in the bag, and the registration work started that day.
They came back at six months for the first service and the bike had been rinsed every week, which we could see, and which is why it will still be a good machine in year six.